Unwavering Affection
by Amnestyyy
Summary: [Modern AU] Anna wakes up in an unfamiliar room. Taken from her own life by an unlikely captor, Anna finds herself in a precarious situation. What the outcome will be? Not even she can predict... (Elsanna, not related).
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, hello, welcome to my newest story! I guess there are a few things I need to say before we get started. First of all, T3l4m0n asked me to write this story. He supplied the idea for the story, as well as the general outline. I just did the actual writing part. I recognise that, maybe, it isn't exactly what he wanted or expected, but I guess that's the risk of having someone else write a story for you - I did my best and went with my gut feeling, so this is what it became...**

**Secondly, this story will probably be around 5 or 6 chapters long. Not very long, shorter than my other stories, but that's just because... well, I have a certain amount of stuff I can work with, and I'm not going to keep dragging stuff along just to make the story longer. Also, updating on this might be a little irregular, I have two stories to maintain, as well as several unpublished projects I'm working on, and university and work. So that's just something you people are going to have to live with, I guess? Apologies, but it's just the way it is...**

**Next, let me see... Euhm. Ah, right! I don't own Frozen, would like to, but I don't. I made no profit with this story (unless T3l4m0n decides to pay me...?) and don't intend to! Also, this story is going to contain Elsanna, so if that's not your thing, this story is not going to sit well with you...**

**I guess that's it. Onwards to business!**

* * *

><p>Anna opened her eyes. Her mind was fuzzy and her mouth was dry. Not that big of a problem though. Well, not compared to some of the other problems she faced right now. The first of those being the sudden change in the colour scheme of her bedroom. Her bedroom was green and yellow. Not the icy blue and white she was surrounded by.<p>

So, logically, this was not _her_ room. Logically, as any self-respecting teenage girl waking up in a strange room would do, Anna immediately pulled off the covers laying over her in favour of checking her clothing. Jeans? Check. Blouse? Check. Underwear? Double check. Shoes? Well, those weren't of too much consequence at the moment, so never mind them.

"Ooookay," she muttered to herself, shaking her head a few times to get the woozy feeling out of her brain. "I'm in someone else's room, but at least I still have my clothes on... Good."

She pained her brain to find the details of the – obviously awesome – party she must have gotten drunk at yesterday. Nothing came to mind. Anna wasn't shy in her consumption of alcohol, but she never drank _that_ much. Right? Wracking her brain further delivered problem number two of this morning – provided it was actually a morning, Anna would need to check that as well, once she got round to it.

She hadn't been to a party last night. Now that her memory had been kick started, she recalled that she had been on the couch. Watching a bad movie with a bucket of ice cream. Chocolate, of course. The only drink she had consumed was apple juice and milk.

"So, why am I here? And where is here, anyway? Alright... think, think... Logical next step?"

The answer came to her more readily than she had expected. "Leaving, of course."

As easily as the answer had presented itself, so difficult did the performance prove. The door of the bedroom was locked. That in itself was ominous enough to give Anna bad vibes, but optimistic as she was, she tried not to let it get her down. There was always the window, after all.

The large padlock she found secured to the window latch was a clear indicator of another foiled escape attempt. Optimism slightly wavering, she started looking for something. Something she could use to break the window. Her optimism seemed to leave her as readily as water in cupped hands when she realised she was left with furniture too large to be lifted, or even moved, and objects too small to even cause a scratch.

So, she dropped down on the bed – _comfy bed... _– to think up a new plan. "Signal to outside world..." her own voice muttered, surprising her. "Well, that's actually not half bad for an idea I came up with without thinking..."

Opening the curtains immediately made it clear that wouldn't work either. Trees. Trees everywhere. Apparently, there was some kind of pine forest around that Anna had miraculously missed the entire nineteen years she lived in this city. "That is... unless I'm not actually _in_ Arendelle anymore."

She dropped down on the bed again, her thigh landing on something hard. She clawed at the blankets, trying to find the passive aggressor, but finding nothing. "Right. It's just my phone. Silly me."

...

Anna's hand made contact with her forehead, creating a loud slapping noise. "My phone! Why didn't I check my pockets immediately? Geez, good thing I don't make a habit out of being kidnapped or-"

She was genuinely surprised. Maybe it had been the wooziness of her brain. Maybe it had been an overdose of chocolate ice cream killing her brain cells. Maybe it had just been the general confusion and weirdness of the situation. None of the above were viable reasons for not realising her predicament though. She had been taken. From her home. To somewhere else. By... someone?

"Well, I'll worry about that later. Because _I_ have a phone call to make!"

She pulled out her iPhone, and pressed the button to unlock the screen. The infernal device presented her with a black screen of nothingness.

"Riiight. I was too lazy to go and get my charger last night..."

She dropped the dead iPhone on the white desk. Not like it was of any use to her now anyway. Serves her right for being such a slob. "Couldn't just have lifted my pretty butt off the couch, walk five steps and plug the damn thing in, could I?"

Well, all things considered, she was left with only one final option. She took a deep breath, after which she started releasing what she considered to be the most hair-withering, blood-curling, glass-shattering scream in the history of mankind, as well as the histories of several other species.

Somewhere halfway through her accumulated breath, which translated to about four seconds screaming from the top of her lungs, the doorknob turned. It was a simple coincidence that she noticed, screaming had her quite occupied, after all, and it put an abrupt stop to her scream.

The door to her bedroom – well, not _her_ bedroom – opened, and someone shuffled in. Anna, considering this as the best chance at escape so far, didn't bother looking at _it_ though. She knew what kind of men kidnapped girls like her. The creepy, elderly, stinky, sweaty and hairy kind. She grabbed the first thing her hands reached and blindly threw it at the entering figure, leaping at the door while her oppressor was occupied with – what would later turn out to be – her iPhone.

In the half-second she had allowed herself to think about the entire procedure, it had seemed like a remarkably sound plan. She would almost have gone so far as to call it fail-proof. Turns out that wasn't exactly the case. Rather than being knocked out, or at least momentarily distracted, by the pink iPhone, her captor merely caught it. That, of course, allowed him the time to push her back – softer than expected, but still quite a shove – retreat back through the doorway and close the door again. Anna heard the signature click of a lock, signalling her defeat.

With a clearly audible humpf and a pfooh, she slumped against the door. To her surprise, she heard soft breathing on the other side of the door. "Hey creeper, why don't you just... go and do what you do?"

She had expected many things in response. Maybe a heavy grunt, or creepy breathing. Maybe a verbal reply, delivered in a low, grovelling voice. Or a slick and slimy voice. What she did _not_ expect, however, was a question, delivered in the crystal-clear and melodic voice of a woman.

"Why would you throw your phone at me?"

Anna shrugged. It took a few seconds before she realised that her captor – or... captor-es? – couldn't see her. "Battery's dead. Not that it's any of your business."

"Are you... Are you hungry?"

Anna made a point out of remaining mute this time. It was a matter of pride. That, and she wouldn't have been able to form a sentence in between her silent sobs.

"I'll go and make you some breakfast," the disembodied voice on the other side of the door muttered quietly. Nothing like the aggressive kidnapper Anna had imagined. But a kidnapper nonetheless, she reminded herself, remaining silent still. "Also... please don't scream like that again... There's no one around to hear you, and you'll only end up with a sore throat."

Well, that was misplaced concern if Anna ever saw any. A sore throat was the least of her worries, really. "I mean, who does she think she is?" Anna huffed to herself after hearing the footsteps recede from her door, which wasn't technically _her _door, as she reminded herself. "Worrying about me like she cares. And my throat, of all things. A sore throat, pfff."

If nothing else, at least her captor seemed to be true to her word. After a mere ten minutes, the footsteps returned. "I'm going to open the door now. Please... Please move to the other side of the room and don't throw anything?"

_That hardly sounds like an order_, Anna mused silently, clutching her rumbling belly. "Fine. I'll humour you. This time." Her voice came out as a snarl, which was surprising, because Anna hadn't been aware of such an ability of hers.

The door opened just wide enough for a slender, white hand to place a tray inside the room, immediately after which the door was closed again. The smell reached Anna's nose nearly instantly. Toast, bacon, eggs, a glass of milk and a glass of orange juice, and a large pot filled with tea.

"I wasn't sure what you liked, so I brought a little bit of everything. I hope it's alright..." The voice quivered slightly, but restored itself before it continued. "And... I think we should talk about... the uhm... circumstances of your stay. When you're done, of course..."

Anna would have responded, called the mysterious stranger on the other side of the door a myriad of unflattering names and adjectives, had she not been too busy working her food down her throat. She didn't care that her captor would be able to hear her eating – she was hungry. And when Anna was hungry, there was absolutely _nothing_ that could keep her from eating.

Half an hour later, three soft knocks on the door signalled her return. The door opened, just a teeny tiny bit. Slowly, very slowly, the crack became wider and wider, and eventually someone stepped into the room, having made sure Anna was on the other side, sitting at the headboard of the bed.

And Anna was amazed. If she hadn't known any better, she would have thought the ancient myths about gods and goddesses stealing mortals for their own pleasures were true. She had bright, platinum-blonde hair, styled in a simple but very elegant braid that hung over her left shoulder. She had brilliant blue eyes, a combination between ice and bright skies, staring back at her with an intensity that almost made Anna wither. Her skin was fair and unmarred, porcelain white. Her entire body was slender and long and elegant and beautiful and sophisticated and graceful and – _Enough! She kidnapped you, Anna!_

Anna had to consciously remind herself she hated this person. It was a strange sensation, to say the least...

"Hi..." the woman muttered, looking incredibly insecure.

Anna pressed her lips together tightly, determined not to say anything during this conversation.

"I hope breakfast was good?"

More silence, but a single glance towards the empty platter betrayed her on that front. The woman gave a weak smile.

"I'm sorry about... bringing you here. But, maybe it won't be so bad? You're not a prisoner! Just look at yourself as uhm... an honoured guest who isn't allowed to leave? You can leave your room, though. Explore the house, if you want? There are locks and bolts on all the doors and windows, of course... And I removed everything you could use as a weapon..."

Anna, still not talking, deigned it okay to raise an eyebrow. She hoped her expression expressed concern and scepticism, but non-verbal communication wasn't really her thing.

"I don't want to hurt you, really. I'd just like to... get to know you. Obviously I can't let you go, I'm sure I don't have to explain the predicament that would land me in..."

Anna couldn't help it. The entire situation was so surreal. Here she was, kidnapped by a woman her own age, who didn't even seem to be confident enough to have a normal conversation with her now. The woman didn't even look _happy_, despite having, apparently, brought Anna here herself.

"Uhm... What's your name?"

"Anna," she replied, still deep in thought, and forgetting her mandate of silence for a moment.

"Well, Anna. It's nice to meet you. I'm Elsa..." And just like that, she got the platter and left the room again. This time, though, Anna noted, she didn't lock the door.


	2. Chapter 2

"She didn't lock the door... Why didn't she lock the door? Is she really letting me roam the house on my own? What kind of kidnapper is she? Worst kidnapper _ever_. I mean, surely I can find a way to escape, right? An open window? Or maybe it's a trap... I should stay here, in this room. Maybe there's a dozen creepy guys waiting for me out there. Maybe this is all just a prank? No... kidnapping someone from their house isn't a prank, it's a crime... How the hell did she even do that? I mean, I'm a sturdy sleeper, absolutely. But surely it's not bad enough she could just drag me out of my home on the fudging fifth floor without me waking up? Or without someone noticing, for that matter... Odd... Besides, she doesn't even look strong enough to lift me... Maybe she hired someone to kidnap me and bring me here? I should ask her... Oh, wait, yeah no. Like she would tell me... Why am I even talking to myself?"

Anna was still sitting on the bed, contemplating the odd – _maybe ridiculous would be better_ – situation she found herself in. But it would all be fine. She didn't even need to do anything but wait. Soon, people would notice she was missing. And with a kidnapper as... well, weird, as hers, it would only be a matter of time before they'd find them here.

"And I won't miss any classes either, long live the holidays," she muttered, again to herself. "Wait a minute... holidays... that means... oh crap. No one is going to miss me during the holidays! No classes... The only one that might miss me is cousin Punzie, but she only calls about twice a month... And that odd, lumpy guy that lives across the hall... What's his name again? Right, Kristian. No, that's not right... Kristoffel? Kristoffer! Why am I even thinking about him? It's not like he's going to report me missing..."

She sat for a while longer, thinking about the direness of her situation. Locked up with a friendly kidnapper, with no chance of anyone missing her in the next two weeks – at the very least – and presumably no way to escape. And even if she did escape, she'd be lost in the snow in the middle of nowhere. "Yeah no, not going to happen."

After a few hours, she figured she might as well have a look around. Slowly opening the door of her room, she peeked out to find a hallway with several doors. "Ah, so this is not actually a house but more like... a hut? Cottage? Alright, let's see what's behind door number one..."

A bathroom. Small, but every necessity appeared to be accounted for. "Gee, there's even a bathtub. Talk about fancy..." The next room revealed a room with two empty tables, a desk and a large bookshelf. None of it caught Anna's fancy, and she turned towards the next door. Before she reached it, though, she gave up on that one. The large chain and lock wrapped around it was a clear indicator of her not being allowed through there. "And that's probably the door to freedom," she muttered quietly. "Well, leaves only one door to try!"

The final door brought her to the sitting room, and the first thought that came to Anna's mind was both unwelcome and surprising. _I could get used to being locked up in here_. Anna's eyes roamed around the room. A fireplace with a roaring fire on the wall opposite of her, easy chairs in front of it, and a small recliner against the wall. A large closet filled with board games, books, artistic supplies and other modes of entertainment. A window looking out into the snow-covered pine forest outside. A beautiful blonde woman, snugly wrapped in a comforter, sitting in one of the chairs with a book.

_Wait what? Let's not forget WHY I am actually here, okay brain?_

Elsa looked up at her as she stepped into the room, her eyes widening just a little. "Anna! Do you need anything? Lunch? Blanket? Just let me know and I'll get you whatever you need..."

"My freedom?"

Elsa's face immediately fell, her brows knitting together as she took her lower lip between her teeth. "Anything but that..." the reply came, soft and almost indiscernible over the roar of the fire. "I can't have you running free and going to the police."

"So, you plan to keep me here, wherever here is, forever?"

Elsa closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath. "I- No, it's just that... Well, maybe? I mean, yes! Yes, of course."

Despite the entire situation, Anna couldn't repress a slight chuckle. "You're not very good at this kidnapping thing, are you?" she asked with a hint of malice in her voice. _I really have to make sure I don't start liking her... Even though she's sort of adorable in a completely screwed up way..._

"Well, I haven't had much practice," the blonde replied dryly. "I don't make a habit out of... You know, taking people."

Anna nodded for a moment, pondering on the question she didn't _want_ to ask, but felt like she should ask nonetheless. "So, uh, what are the rules? Just to prevent me getting whipped or beaten or whatever you do as punishment..."

Elsa raised a single eyebrow. "I... don't understand? Why would I want to beat you?"

"Seriously? That's what kidnappers do when their hostage misbehaves!" Anna felt like she was teaching her kidnapper the ropes of the business, and the irony of the situation was not lost on her. _Maybe, if I play my cards right, I'll get out of here in one piece_...

"I'm not going to beat you. And I don't even have a whip, so that's out of the question too. Just... don't try to escape, okay? I'll take good care of you... You can choose what you want for breakfast. And lunch. And dinner. Tell me which snacks you like and I'll make sure to get them. I'll get your favourite books and board games too, if you let me know what you like... And uh... the cottage is a bit outdated – no electricity. Oh, and don't go to the basement. Just... don't, okay?"

Anna nodded. "And... what should I call you? Mistress? Ma'am? Boss?"

"Just... just Elsa?"

Anna narrowed her eyes slightly, wondering on her next move for a minute. As far as she was concerned, she had two options now. She could either be the submissive victim, or try to be something... more. "Well then, Elsa. Go make me some lunch."

To her immense surprise, Elsa immediately got up from her comfy position, hurrying to the kitchen, where she started to bustle around. Anna couldn't help but reflect on the power relations between them, which seemed to be... well, completely askew. To say the very least. After a few minutes, Elsa returned, carrying a plate with an elaborate lunch.

"Didn't think that would work," Anna muttered out loud.

"That what would work?"

"Well, you making me lunch. You really are a lousy kidnapper."

"Could you stop calling me that? It sounds so... barbaric and cruel."

Anna wanted to shoot back a venomous reply, but kept herself in check. After all, she _was_ still the one with the disadvantage here. "Sure. Sorry."

Her captor nodded briskly and returned her attention to her book. Anna devoured her lunch, deliciously prepared, although she'd never say that out loud. Like, never ever. She returned the stuff to the kitchen, rolling her eyes as she noticed the padlocks on each and every drawer and cupboard. _What is she afraid of? Me attacking her with a frying pan?_

As quietly as possible, Anna moved back to the fireplace, looking over the bookshelf. She liked reading a good book every now and then, and she might as well be doing something she enjoyed while waiting for the perfect opportunity to escape. After all, that was still her true goal – no matter how pleasant Elsa tried to make her captivity, it was still captivity.

As she settled in the rocking chair with the first of seven Harry Potter novels, she frowned slightly. _Maybe I should make my discontent clearer... After all, why would Elsa let me go if she thinks I'm enjoying myself...? Yeah, she wouldn't..._

Time passed quickly with a book and a roaring fire, and more than once Anna felt herself dosing off to sleep. In the time she was awake, however, she decided that, indeed, she would not make it appear as if she enjoyed being here with _her_. So, when Elsa, several hours later, inquired what Anna would like for dinner, Anna did the first thing that came to mind.

"What would you like to have for dinner, Anna?" Her voice sounded kind and full of concern, and her mouth quirked into a small smile as she waited for the reply.

"I'm not hungry. I think I'm going to bed," Anna replied in a perfect monotonous voice.

The result was immediate. Elsa's smile evaporated as snow left out in the desert, her brows knitted together in a frown and the sparkle in her eyes disappeared. "Oh. Okay, sleep well..."

Anna got up from her chair, depositing the blanket and the book next to it. "I highly doubt it," she muttered, making sure to sound as sad and disappointed as she could as she trudged off to her appointed bedroom.

As predicted, sleep did not come easily to Anna. Her hunger flared up with fervour, not being used to go without dinner might have had something to do with that. Whatever the cause, it kept her from falling into a restful slumber. After what felt like years, but was probably two or three hours, she snuck out of bed and opened the door of her room an inch. Maybe, if Elsa was asleep, she could find something to still her hunger.

Tip-toeing towards the kitchen, she immediately stilled when she heard shuffling in the living room. The door was slightly ajar, just like she had left it when she went to bed, and she could see the dying embers in the fireplace, giving of barely enough light to see the pacing figure. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the lack of light, allowing her to see Elsa, pacing from wall to wall, nervously fiddling with the braid hanging off of her shoulder.

"What were you thinking, Elsa? Seriously! You can't just take a girl to your home while she's sleeping! You didn't think this through at all, you idiot. Being lonely does not give you the right to kidnap the poor girl and lock her up here. And you thought she might actually grow to like you? What is this, a Disney movie? You should be ashamed of yourself... What would your father say? Then again, all of this wouldn't have happened if he had allowed me to make friends, instead of keeping me here, in the middle of the woods. No! No, no, no! Don't blame this on him. You took Anna here. That's your responsibility. Not his. Mine. Oh, how am I ever going to make this right... She's right, I can't keep her here forever... But I can't let her go, either... Oh, what am I going to do?!"

Anna, for some reason, rejoiced at seeing this different side of her host. The insecurities, the doubt, it all made her feel as if, maybe, there was a chance to just be allowed to walk away from all this.

"Maybe I should go check on her? See if she's alright..." Elsa continued. "She didn't have dinner, after all. Maybe she's sick. Or still awake because she's so hungry? No, that's silly. If she would have been hungry, she'd have eaten dinner. Why didn't she eat dinner? Things were going well. Or, as well as they could be expected to go... And then suddenly, poof. She pulled away again. Hm, I guess that's what I get for nabbing her from her apartment. But even if she's asleep... I could still... check up on her? Just sit and, maybe watch her for a while? No. That would be creepy. Let's not make this entire _thing_ even worse than it already is. No matter how beautiful she is, I'm not going to stoop to creeping next to her bed."

After that, Elsa seemed a little more collected again. Anna, having become more collected as well and remembering the entire kitchen was locked tighter than a miser's purse, shimmied back to her bed, avoiding the attention of Elsa. _At least I have plenty to think about now_, she mused, resting her head on her pillow. Her hunger now forgotten, she didn't get much time to think about anything before sleep overtook her.

* * *

><p>When Anna woke up the following day, the morning – or rather, early afternoon – appeared full of surprises. One of her favourite plush toys – a stuffed snowman she'd named Olaf – rested on the desk. <em>Elsa must have brought him here too, just like me<em>.

She opened her wardrobe, pulling out clean underwear and clothes. Only when she was halfway through her regular morning routine of waking up and getting dressed did it strike her as odd that _her_ favourite clothes were in _Elsa's_ cottage wardrobe. _Hm, I suppose she took those here when she snatched me away as well. How thoughtful_.

She yawned and stretched for a while, before deciding it was about time to have something to eat – she could still feel the lack of dinner. Elsa was sitting at the kitchen counter, immediately turning around towards Anna when she opened the door.

"Good morning," she smiled, the same timid smile as she had shown a day prior. "There's toast, eggs and bacon if you'd like. Or, if you'd rather have chocolate cereal, that's also an option..."

"How'd you know?"

"Know what?"

"Favourite breakfast."

"I... I uh, may have checked your fridge...?"

Anna watched passively while Elsa poured milk and cereal into a bowl, added a spoon, and handed it to her. "Listen, Anna. I'm sorry about yesterday... Whatever I did clearly made you uncomfortable, or sad or angry. And I don't know _exactly _what I did, but if you tell me, I'll make sure not to do it again..."

"You really don't know?"

"No?"

"You kidnapped me, Elsa! You broke into my apartment and dragged me here! I don't care how many of my favourite breakfasts you make, or lunches or dinners. I don't care if you add my favourite books to your shelf, or bring my clothes here, or bring Olaf-"

"Olaf?"

"The snowman. But that's not the point! This isn't home, and it never will be. And no matter how you treat me, I won't come to enjoy my stay here!"

The silence after that was deafening, and only now did Anna realise she had practically been screaming. Elsa looked utterly broken, like a china doll chucked off of a sixth-floor balcony, completely scattered over the pavement. Anna thought that would have made her feel good. It _should_ have made her feel good, shouldn't it? Then why did she feel so... empty? Guilty? Responsible?

Elsa took a deep breath as her eyes started growing wet. "I... I understand, Anna. You should still eat though. I may be a kidnapper, but I'm not a murderer. I won't have you starving."

"If I starve myself, will you let me go?"

"No. If you do, I'll have to start force-feeding you."

"Fine. I'll eat. But I want pancakes for lunch! And pizza for dinner."

* * *

><p>Anna had expected that, after her outburst that morning, Elsa would stop trying to please her. She could not have been more wrong if she had tried. Elsa came through for her with the pancakes for lunch – even having her favourite brand of syrup – and she left Anna to her own devices after that.<p>

Playing a solitary game of patience on the dining table, Anna could practically feel Elsa's eyes drilling into her from the chair near the fire. For a while, she wondered whether she should say something about it – Elsa would probably stop if she asked her. She turned her head towards the odd blonde every now and then, and every time Elsa would abruptly lower her eyes back to the book she had been reading, a blush creeping across her cheekbones.

During her third game of patience – a game she didn't even enjoy – she had had enough. "I know you're staring at me," she muttered without looking up from her cards.

"I'm sorry," came Elsa's soft and heartfelt answer.

"Why are you staring at me like that anyway?" Anna asked without really caring.

"You're very beautiful." Had Anna been a little more absorbed by the game in front of her, she would probably have missed Elsa's whispered answer. But, since she was bored out of her skull, she didn't.

"Is that why you brought me here?"

"No! Well, yes. Partially. I don't even know anymore..."

Now Anna decided to look up. Things were getting interesting. "You don't know why you brought me here?"

"I thought I did... but, well... turns out I didn't really think things through."

"You wouldn't say," Anna replied with thick sarcasm. "How did you do it anyway?"

"It was easier than I thought..." Elsa started. "Your front door is really flimsy. A few good pushes and the lock gave away... You didn't even wake up, so I could just carry you to the car – you're a real light-weight, by the way – you just slept through it all, snoring like an ox. A very adorable ox."

Anna huffed, blowing out her cheeks. "And how did you know which apartment to break into?"

"I uh... I followed you home from the mall, where you bought a large bucket of chocolate ice cream..."

"Right. So a kidnapper and a stalker. Great. Just great."

That comment, obviously, ended all further conversation at that moment, and Anna shifted her attention back to her patience game. "You can stare if you want, by the way. I couldn't care less."

After a few more hours, during which Anna tried her hand at poetry and painting, Elsa suddenly got up, walked over to the corner, and opened a hatch, revealing a flimsy staircase leading to the cellar. She was down there a few minutes before coming back up, holding a set of keys in one hand and a coat in the other. "I'm going out for pizzas. I'll probably be half an hour, maybe a little longer. Don't bother trying to get out of the house – everything's locked. Also, if I were you, I'd try to keep the fire going."

"I could come with you, you know?" Anna tried, but Elsa merely shook her head.

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Anna. I'm... I'm sorry, you have to stay here."

As soon as Elsa had closed and locked the door behind her, and Anna heard a car driving away from the cottage, she started making her round through the house. _Like hell I won't try to escape. You never know, maybe I'll be more inventive than she imagined..._

After a good fifteen minutes, though, Anna concluded that she was probably not that inventive. Or Elsa was just more inventive than she had expected. Everything was hermetically locked, there were no large objects which she could use to break a window, and nothing she could possibly utilize as a weapon. She even doused the fire to see if an escape through the chimney might be possible.

That was one of her worst ideas ever. Not only would she never be able to escape through there, but now the cold had free reign in the cottage, and no matter how hard she tried, Anna didn't manage to get the fire burning again. She wrapped herself in two blankets, and looked around, desperate for any means of escape.

And then her eye fell on the hatch in the floor. _Sure, Elsa said I wasn't supposed to go down there... but that's exactly what she would say if there was indeed a way out down there, right? Oh boy, I'm so smart. There has to be an escape down there. Why else would Elsa ask me not to go down there?_

As soon as she had descended the stairs and lit the lantern, she realised how silly her idea had been (yet again). _Of course there was no exit down here, that would be silly. Besides, if there were, I'm sure Elsa would have locked the hatch, rather than just leaving it all accessible like she did._

The cellar was a small, square room. The only light came from the oil lantern Anna had found at the top of the stairs, and she now used it to look around for a bit. The walls and floor were simple and plain grey concrete, rather than the wood the cottage had been built from. There were some disgusting moisture stains on the walls, as if the water from the ground behind them had started seeping in. _Which is probably the case_, Anna mused.

In one corner, there was an old, yellowing mattress with a blanket and a moldy-looking pillow, and in one of the walls she noticed several hooks, from which coat hangers were dangling precariously. Other than that, the cellar was empty.

"I see you pointedly ignored my request for you not to go down here," Elsa's voice sounded behind her. "I suppose that was to be expected."

"Is this where you had planned to keep me?" Anna asked, her voice feeble and her expression aghast.

"What?! No! Of course not. Why would I do that?"

"Well, you know, the mattress is a dead giveaway, don't you think?"

Elsa pinched the bridge of her nose. "Anna, I'm sure you inspected the entire house, right?"

"Yeah, sure. Had to find an escape somehow. Couldn't just take your word for it, I'm sure you understand."

"Of course, didn't expect anything less. Anyway, have you not noticed that yours is he only bedroom?"

"I did, but what-" It took Anna's brain a little while to connect the dots, but suddenly she understood. "_You_ sleep here?"

"Yes. Now come back up here. I brought pizza, and I'll see to getting the fire going again."

Anna did as she was told, settling in one of the easy chairs while Elsa bent over the fireplace. "Why do you sleep down there?"

"Well, it was either you or me..." Elsa answered, as if that explained everything. And maybe it did, but if that was the case, Anna just didn't get it. What self-respecting kidnapper would give his – or her – own bedroom to the victim and instead sleep in a disgusting dark cellar? That's right. No one.

Elsa was still working to get the fire going again, which caused Anna to remember something. "Oh yeah. I uh... threw a bucket of water into the hearth to douse the flames..."

Elsa looked up confused. "Why would you do that? I warned you that it would get cold here."

"I had to try _something_," Anna replied casually, as if it didn't really matter her plans had been foiled.

Elsa looked amused, though. "You planned to climb out through the chimney?"

Anna didn't reply, but Elsa just laughed while taking a key from her pocket and opening a cabinet, procuring dry kindling. Anna tried to stop it, but she couldn't help appreciating Elsa's laugh. It was... quite unlike anything she'd heard before.

Soon enough, Elsa had the fire going again, and Anna sighed contently as the warmth of the flames washed over her. She didn't care whether Elsa heard it or not – Anna and the cold just weren't on good terms with one another, and the fire was a welcome change. Anna took a mental note never to deliberately put the fire out again.

"You got my favourite pizza!"

"Good thing you're a regular at your local pizza shop. They knew exactly who I meant when I gave them your name and description. Apparently, you always order the same, so I did too."

Anna blushed a little, but the smell of her pizza was too enticing to be really mad at Elsa's teasing. If it had even been that, Anna wasn't sure. There was just something about the amusement with which she'd said it... Well, no matter. Pizza!

Dinner ended up being a quick and quiet affair, Elsa eating her pizza delicately with her knife and fork – like a real lady, Anna thought – while Anna just ripped pieces off and stuffed as much in her mouth as possible. She really didn't care what Elsa thought of her table manners. If anything, maybe she'd be so disgusted she'd let her go. _Not likely, but still worth a shot_.

Indeed, Elsa did not appear perturbed by Anna's lack of manners, taking great care to clean everything up as soon as she was done.

"So, how long are you going to stay here with me?" Anna asked while Elsa was working on the dishes.

"What do you mean?"

_Man, is she really that ignorant, or does she just pretend not to understand?_

"Well, you can't always stay here, right? Even though I apparently am. You'll have to go to school, or work? See your family, stuff like that?"

"I don't go to school anymore, and I don't need to work. Don't have any family either," she added with a sad smile. "So yes, I can stay here. With... with you."

Without even having noticed, Anna had grabbed one of the towels and now found herself drying the dishes. Elsa told her she didn't have to, but then again, Anna didn't really have anything else to do anyway. Once she started drying the knife, she weighed it in her hand.

_I could probably stab her. She's not even watching me... Then reach for her keys and get out of here..._

The plan didn't really appeal to her, and before she could provide a good reason for herself, she had already dropped the knife in its drawer. _I'll have a chance to escape without having to stab Elsa..._

After the dishes, Elsa walked over to the corner where all the games were, and pulled out a chessboard. Anna sat watching as Elsa set the game up and started playing against herself. For a while she looked on as Elsa moved the pawns around, slowly creating more room on the board.

"Rook to C4," Anna heard her own voice saying.

Elsa's head shot up in surprise. "You play?"

Anna shrugged. "A little."

"Want to play? I can set up a new game if you want..."

Hoping a deep breath would give her enough time to think up an answer, Anna inhaled deeply. She could refuse, say she didn't feel like it. Or just refuse without even giving a reason, Elsa wouldn't mind. But what then? Elsa wasn't going to let her go... She might as well enjoy a game of chess while she was stuck here. No reason to make her captivity worse than it already was, was there?

"Sure, why not."

The two women soon found themselves to be pretty equally matched, taking each other's pieces one by one. After a long game, Anna managed to trump Elsa through one of her knights. "I win!" she shouted, raising her arms up in a not-so-silent cheer.

"Well done," Elsa smiled. "Impressive. It's not often that someone beats me."

Anna looked at the clock, silently ticking above the fireplace. "Best two out of three?"

Elsa's smile grew a little wider. "You're on."

They spent the rest of their night playing games, ranging from chess to monopoly and scrabble. It was around midnight when Anna finally decided to go to bed. As she dropped her head on her pillow, she felt strangely content.

It had been a long time since she'd had so much fun. Sure, she was still a prisoner, but at least she'd enjoyed herself tonight. If she overlooked the entire kidnapping-thing, Elsa was actually very pleasant company to be with. And, frankly, Anna would choose a night like this over binge-watching series on Netflix any day of the week.

_Maybe being a prisoner here won't be as bad as I thought it would be. Elsa takes good care of me, at least. I should make a list of things for her to get me... Might be here a while, after all._

_And maybe it won't be all bad after all_.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the delay on this one, my lovelies, but this was seriously one of the hardest things I've had to write so far. And that's saying something... Anyway, a little note on my updating schedule: I have none. I have three stories to keep up to date, I'm working on four more unpublished stories which will be made available to you in the near future, and I'm also juggling university and work, so I'm terribly sorry about not always being able to update as rapidly as I'd like to...**

**That being said, I hope y'all enjoy this new chapter!**

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><p>Anna was not at all surprised to find Elsa in the kitchen after she had gotten up from her warm, cozy bed the following morning. Apparently, the blonde had decided to mix her two favourite ideas for breakfast into one, having whipped up a large stack of chocolate-chip pancakes. Anna almost squealed in delight, only tempering her enthusiasm at the very last moment, and sitting down with a modest but clearly visible smile.<p>

"Smells good!"

"I'm glad you think so," Elsa replied with a subdued smile. "Take as many as you like. Want something to drink as well?"

"Milk, please."

Anna devoured her breakfast as if she hadn't been fed in days, not taking the time for idle conversation or other distractions. These were, after all, chocolate-chip pancakes. Who could possibly resist those? Only when the entire stack had finally been eaten did she look up at Elsa.

"So… what are the plans for today?" she asked with a shy smile.

Elsa frowned. "I… don't know. I hadn't thought about that yet…"

Anna stared out of the kitchen window for a moment, looking at the falling snowflakes. "Could we… Maybe we could… you know… go outside and play around with the snow?"

Anna regretted the moment she asked, seeing Elsa's face distort into a frown. Before the blonde could say anything, she continued. "Just around the cottage! I promise I won't try to run off or anything! Ha ha, I mean, how could I? I have no idea where we are, so I wouldn't know where to run!"

"I'm sorry, Anna. I don't think it's a good idea for us to go outside… I'm sure you understand I can't take the risk," Elsa replied morosely.

Anna's shoulders slumped heavily as she stared out of the window. "It's okay, Elsa," Anna muttered sadly. "I understand… I'm not happy about it, but I understand. I'll find something else to do." Anna left the kitchen to give Elsa the space to do the dishes, dropping down in one of the lazy chairs and picking up the book she had started reading earlier.

She wasn't unaware of Elsa's apologetic glances at her every now and then, but she wasn't exactly sure what she could do about it. Or whether she even needed to do something about it. Elsa was a kidnapper, after all. And she had been honest – she understood Elsa's decision, but wasn't exactly happy about it. That was the truth, and it was all she could tell Elsa.

Surely, it wasn't her fault that Elsa was now upset. What else could she have done? Besides, was it even her problem if Elsa was upset? Of course it wasn't! Elsa shouldn't have abducted her in the first place. Not that she was angry about that. Well, maybe a little, but that was only logical, no?

Anna sat near the fire, reading her Harry Potter novel, for almost two hours before Elsa finally came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Anna, I'm really sorry you can't go outside…. I really am. We could watch a movie, if you want?"

"I thought you said there was no electricity here?"

"There isn't. But you can watch a movie on the tablet, if you want?"

Anna shrugged. "Okay, sure. What have you got?"

Elsa handed her a shiny-looking tablet. "Take a look for yourself," she muttered off-handedly.

Anna looked through the collection of movies stored on the tablet. All genres were well represented, really. Anna could choose from a wide selection of movies, ranging from action movies to comedies and even children's movies. Eventually, she decided to settle on The Lion King. Elsa appeared deep in thought, but Anna decided to ask anyway: "Will you be watching it with me?"

Anna got up from the chair and dropped herself on the couch lazily. "Well?" she asked, patting the empty space besides her. "To join or not to join, that is the question!"

Elsa shook her head with a deep sigh, but slowly lowered herself onto the seat next to Anna nonetheless. "I suppose it won't hurt to watch a movie together."

Anna started the movie with a simple tap to the screen. Before long, the movie was underway. Anna always had a penchant for Disney movies, being able to sing along with most of the songs and knowing most of the movies by heart in general. The Lion King not being an exception, of course. As such, her attention was not entirely on the movie, and she quickly noticed something that caused her to pause.

"Elsa, you can't possibly see the screen sitting like that!" she muttered, waving the tablet around. "Why didn't you say anything! It's no use watching a movie together if you're not actually watching the movie, is there!"

"I'm perfectly fine, Anna," Elsa smiled softly.

Anna smirked. "Tough luck, Elsa. You can stare at me again _after _the movie. For now, you need to actually stare at the _screen_." Without thinking it through, she scooted closer to Elsa, allowing them both to see the screen properly. Only when she had started the movie again, and felt Elsa breathing next to her, did Anna realize they were practically snuggled up to one another.

Elsa was stiff and tense, hardly allowing herself to breathe by the sound of it. Anna, however, realized that she didn't actually mind being physically close to Elsa. She had already acknowledged the fact that Elsa was attractive – not even a blind, straight girl could have denied that. Under different circumstances, Anna would certainly have seen Elsa as a romantic interest.

_Under different circumstances? Really Anna? Because, from where I'm sitting, it sorta looks like you're cuddling with your kidnapper while watching one of your favorite movies. That's usually not the kind of thing you do with kidnappers. You are aware of that, right? _

Anna dismissed her thoughts as soon as they came up, but they were persistent and returned several times in only a few minutes. After a while, Elsa seemed to relax a little more, making the snuggling even more comfortable than it had already been. With that, however, Anna's mind also went into overdrive again.

_No, I am not crushing on Elsa. That'd be ridiculous. Because, honestly, that only happens in the movies. What do they call it again? Stockholm? Or was it Oslo? Some syndrome of some kind. Well, doesn't matter. I'm not falling for Elsa, so there's that._

_And even if I were, so what?_

She was torn from her thoughts when she felt something warm and wet drip onto her shoulder. She quickly paused the movie and turned towards Elsa, who sat with tears in her eyes, hastily wiping them dry, only to find the tears returning as quickly as she could dispose of them. Anna looked at the screen, finding she paused the movie at one of the saddest scenes in the movie. Had she been paying attention, she too would probably have cried.

"Are you alright, Elsa? It's okay to cry, don't worry. I do it all the time. It _is_ a really sad movie."

Elsa sniffled. "I don't see you crying now, Anna," she murmured under her breath.

"Well, I wasn't really paying attention, truth be told."

"Why's that?" Elsa asked, wiping her eyes dry with her sleeves.

_Oh, just thinking about how I might be crushing on you._

"Nothing!" she yelped, rather than outing her internal monologue. Because, let's face it, that would have been bad.

"Shall we… continue?" Elsa asked hesitantly. Anna nodded and giggled as Elsa gasped sharply as she cuddled back into her side.

"Anna? What are you doing?"

"Well, if we don't sit close to each other, you won't be able to see anything. And it would be so sad if I couldn't see you sniffling over the rest of the movie!"

By the time the movie finished, Anna and Elsa were comfortable seated against each other on the couch, Anna almost being able to forget about her predicament and Elsa's role in it. Before she could say something, though, Elsa got up. "How does toast and eggs sound for lunch, Anna?"

"Delicious!" Anna cheered, forgetting all about her resentment towards Elsa. Or at least, the bit of resentment that was still left. Sure, Anna was a creature of emotion, rather than rationality, but that didn't mean she didn't realize the absurdity of her feelings – or the lack thereof. But hey, she couldn't help it if she didn't feel what she was supposed to feel.

Lunch was, again, a quiet affair, with Anna spending most of her attention on the snowflakes that were still dropping from the air outside. For some reason, watching the snow fall made her feel relaxed and at ease. It always had, and she had never been able to explain it, really. There was just something about the tranquility of falling snow.

She felt Elsa's eyes boring in her back all the time, but didn't pay it too much mind. After all, Elsa had already told her she enjoyed watching Anna – for whatever reason – so she just decided to roll with it. It didn't really bother her all that much anyway.

After lunch, Anna killed off some time with her book again, actually making decent progress and being more than halfway through. When she finally decided she had done enough reading for one day – after all, there would be plenty more days of reading ahead – she forced Elsa into another game of chess.

They found themselves sitting across each other on the ground, right in front of the fireplace, with blankets loosely wrapped around their bodies. The match started out relatively fast-paced, but after the first few pieces had been taken, it slowed down considerably. Anna found her eyes pulled towards the window – it was still snowing outside – more and more often. She snapped her attention back to the game and moved one of her rooks.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Elsa asked incredulously.

Anna took another look at the board, realizing she had now left her queen unprotected. "Fuck!" she cursed under her breath, a sound that didn't manage to overcome the roaring fire next to them.

"You can take it back, if you want," Elsa smiled, but Anna shook her head.

"That wouldn't be fair, would it? I made a mistake, so I'll just have to man up and deal with it."

"As you wish," Elsa replied dryly, ridding herself of Anna's queen. The game continued for a while longer, Anna making more and more mistakes as they went along. A few moves later, Elsa had her checkmate.

The blonde released a deep sigh, got up from her perch on the ground and descended into her cellar. Anna didn't pay her much attention, instead moving over to the window. The afternoon was coming to its end, and it wouldn't be much longer before the sun would start to set. Or so Anna thought. She wasn't really an expert on such matters, of course.

She heard Elsa shuffling around behind her, leaving the room, returning and shuffling around some more. She was surprised when something soft and fluffy hit the back of her head.

"Put those on," Elsa commanded in a not-so-commanding tone.

Anna turned her attention to the ground, finding her pink gloves at her feet. On the couch next to Elsa, she also noticed her scarf, hat and thick winter coat. "Uh… Elsa?"

The blonde merely smirked at her. "You made a mess of our chess game because you were distracted by the snow. You've been staring out of the window for most of the day. Don't think I haven't noticed."

Anna merely looked at her inquisitively. "So?"

"I've changed my mind. We can go and play in the snow for a while… As long as you don't try to escape some way or another, that is."

"Really! Cool! Or…" she giggled slightly. "Should I say 'cold?' You know, because the snow is – Never mind. That was lame."

Elsa actually giggled at her lame pun.

"But I totally won't escape! Or try to. No worries. I'll stay here. Or… around here, not really here. There's no snow _here_."

Anna was quick to change into her winter gear, watching as Elsa did the same in the corner of her eyes. She was delighted to be allowed outside, play in the snow like she would have done if she had been at home.

Elsa unlocked the door and opened it for Anna, allowing her to take her first steps into the white powdery goodness that lay outside. Anna skipped outside, marveling at the untouched snow in front of her. She took a large leap and landed in a pile of snow.

"Elsa! Come on! Let's start with making snow angels!"

"Anna! You'll get a cold like that," Elsa complained.

"Yes! And then you'll nurse me back to health with hot cocoa in front of the fire!" Anna giggled. "Now get over here and make snow angels with me!"

Elsa reluctantly lowered herself into the snow, waving her arms and legs to form the outline of an angel in the snow.

"That's it! Keep going Els!"

Anna soon grew tired of making snow angels – a boring activity, really – and started building a small wall of snow around her. Once her makeshift snow fort seemed proficient to Anna, she scooped up a handful of snow, shaping it into a ball. Elsa, oddly enough, hadn't caught on to her intentions yet, but that didn't keep Anna from chucking a snowball at the back of her head. Her aim was slightly off, hitting Elsa on the shoulder.

"ANNA!"

"Yes?" Anna sang with a giggle, hiding behind her snowy wall and making more snowballs to throw. "What is it, Elsa?"

"You. Are. So. DEAD!" the blonde grimaced, taking cover behind one of the trees. Anna giggled loudly as the sound of a snowball hitting her fort alerted her to Elsa's counter-attack. Truth be told, it had been a long time ago Anna had had such fun. She picked up one of her snowballs and peeked over the wall of her fortification, only to be hit square in the face by one of Elsa's throws.

"Bull's eye!" the blonde whooped loudly, throwing her arms up in the air. She didn't anticipate Anna's immediate recovery, and the next two snowballs hit her in the chest, causing her to jump back behind a sturdy tree. Anna didn't let Elsa's cover deter her from throwing more snowballs.

Anna continued her assault on Elsa's hiding place, throwing snowball after snowball, never relenting. Then, all of a sudden, Anna felt something big and soft impacting with her from the side, toppling her over into a large pile of snow besides her. Once the snow had been removed from her face and she opened her eyes, she realized that Elsa was actually laying on top of her, having stealthily left her hiding place and charged her from the side.

Elsa was panting heavily, her face flushed a bright red due to the cold, her breath forming little clouds around her mouth and nose. The sudden proximity to Elsa renewed the discussion she had been keeping with herself mentally. She was certain she shouldn't feel the way she felt. So… flustered and warm and tingly. But she _did_ feel like this, and there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it. She wasn't even certain she _wanted_ to do anything about it.

"Truce?"

Anna snapped out of her thoughts to find Elsa standing over her, reaching out her hand to help Anna up from her pile of snow. Funny thing – she was actually kind of comfy down here. "Yeah, truce."

"Good," Elsa smiled as she pulled Anna up. "Had enough of the snow yet?"

"Nope! We have to build a snowman!"

"A snowman? Really Anna? What are you, six?"

Anna gave her an indignant look, huffing lightly and blowing her bangs out of her face. That didn't really seem to do anything to Elsa, so Anna switched to pouting and puppy eyes. To her surprise, Elsa gave in almost immediately.

"Fine, fine. Snowman it is," she muttered in defeat. "You go and make a body, I'll make a head."

After a short while, Anna had made a perfectly shaped body, whereas Elsa's snowball was nearly rectangular, and quite unfit to serve as a head. Anna laughed and playfully shoved Elsa aside, trying to make a proper head for the snowman as Elsa sat watching from the sideline. It didn't take Anna long to be satisfied with her results.

"Ta-da!" she yelled loudly, splaying her arms out in a gesture of grandeur. "Isn't he the best snowman you've _ever_ seen?"

Elsa snickered in her glove. "He's lovely, Anna. Now let's get you inside before you grow ill, shall we?"

Anna reluctantly agreed, but only after Elsa promised they would return to the snow tomorrow, and build a companion for the lonely snowman. Elsa made sure to take good care of her though, wrapping her in a blanket, moving her chair closer to the fire and providing her with a steaming mug of hot chocolate to boot.

Anna soon felt sleep overtaking her, snoozing in and out of the conversation she was trying to have with Elsa. She was only partially aware of Elsa picking her up bridal style and carrying her to her bedroom. "Goodnight, Anna," Elsa muttered softly.

Anna opened her eyes for a moment, seeing a single tear trickle down Elsa's cheek. "Don't be sad, Elsa," she murmured sleepily. "Today was a good day. You shouldn't be sad on good days."

And with that she turned onto her side, clutching Olaf to her chest and slipping off into the land of dreams as Elsa quietly left the room, heaving a deep sigh as she sat herself down in front of the fire again.

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><p><strong>Please leave a review for me? It'd make me very happy! :3<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**Euh, so yeah. This chapter was a little later than it was supposed to be. Then again, this chapter was never really meant to exist, and the next chapter should actually have been this chapter. But T3l4m0n, the original creative mastermind behind the story and my employer(?) managed to convince me to add this chapter in nonetheless. It's a little shorter than the previous one, but I hope it's enjoyable nonetheless. The next one will probably be longer again.**

**Don't forget to show your support and share your feedback, my dear and lovely people!**

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><p>Anna woke up to an eerie, creaking sound the following morning. Sun was pouring into the room, despite the closed curtains, and she cracked one eye open carefully, making sure not to be blinded by the infernal ender of nights.<p>

She had not expected to find Elsa standing in the middle of her room on her tiptoes, cringing as her foot landed on one of the louder floorboards. Anna smiled to her, a sleepy and not entirely coordinated smile, and opened her other eye too as she turned on her side, facing Elsa.

"Hey, what's up?"

Elsa took a sharp breath, tensing momentarily before her she relaxed again. "Nothing, I just wanted- I came by to see if you were awake yet… eh, because there's breakfast. In the kitchen. I would've brought it to you, but since you were sleeping and I didn't know if you were awake I- Anyway! I have a few quick errands to run. So… I'll be gone for a while."

Anna cocked her head to the side – somewhat difficult if one is actually laying on her side – at Elsa's odd behavior. Then again, she figured as Elsa bolted out of her room, she was a bit strange to begin with. Maybe she was just reading too much into this? Yeah. Probably. She was still lying in bed when she heard the door to the cottage slam closed, shortly after which the roar of an engine sounded, slowly retreating as Elsa drove away.

_Seriously though… How did I ever sleep through the noise of that engine?_ She thought to herself as she scurried around her room, collecting her dirty laundry into a pile in the corner – she'd have to ask Elsa to take them to a laundromat – and pulled a clean outfit out of the wardrobe. Once she was appropriately dressed and sauntered into the actual sitting area of the cottage, she was glad to notice Elsa had left the fire burning. Nevertheless, she decided to throw a few more logs into the fire. _Better safe than sorry is what they say, isn't it?_

After working down her breakfast – toast with jam, something considerably less fancy than the breakfasts she had grown used to, and more alike to what Elsa would eat in the mornings – she roamed around to find something to occupy herself. The slightly deformed snowman still stood outside, waiting patiently for his creators to make him a friend. Honestly, it was a bit of a sad thing to see.

Naturally, Elsa had locked the door when she left, so Anna couldn't go and enjoy the snow – even though more seemed to have fallen while she had been sleeping. Board games are dreadfully dull when playing on your own, and soon Anna found herself snuggled into a blanket on the couch, the tablet in her hand, browsing Elsa's movie collection again. It only seemed logical for her to settle on The Lion King 2.

She was a little disappointed when Elsa had not returned yet when the movie finished, and without giving it much thought, she started The Lion King 3 as well – not seeing many other options to pass the time until Elsa's return. While she had enjoyed the first movie, her mind felt a little stumped while trying to watch this one – her mind often drifting to Elsa, and what she could be doing that took so long, and what they could do when she came back.

Eventually, that movie ended as well, and Anna was about to start yet _another_ movie, but was interrupted by a sound that reminded her of a dying animal of sorts. By the time she heard the sound for the second time, she realized she was listening to the complaints of her own stomach, which was desperately begging her to be filled.

She rummaged around in the kitchen, finding, much to her dismay, that most of the cupboards were still locked and bolted. This, naturally, made the preparing of a decent lunch somewhat difficult, and eventually Anna settled on a leftover piece of toast smeared with butter. It was far from an excellent meal, but it was the best she could do with the available means.

She was about halfway through her piece of toast – eating went considerably slower if you did not actually enjoy the act – when the front door was unlocked and opened, and after a minute or so, Elsa walked into the room, shrugging out of her thick winter coat and dropping her scarf and gloves onto a side-table.

When Elsa turned her head towards the kitchen, and found Anna sitting there with a leftover piece of toast dangling from her mouth, her eyes grew a little wider.

"Anna, what are you doing?"

"Eating lunch," Anna replied drolly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Which, let's face it, it probably was, really.

"What are you eating?"

"Toast. With butter."

"Why?"

"I was hungry, why else would I eat?"

"No. Yes. I get _that_. But why are you eating dry toast with butter? That can't be the least bit pleasant…"

"Well," Anna drawled, "I tried my hand at picking locks once, but needless to say I wasn't very good at it."

"Picking locks? What does- Oh." Elsa's eyebrows suddenly shot up as realization washed over her. "Oh!" She hurriedly made her way towards the kitchen, grabbing Anna's piece of toast and throwing it away. "I'm so sorry, Anna! I didn't expect I would be gone so long, and I never thought about the locks and that you wouldn't be able to get anything decent to eat and I will make you some proper lunch straight away and really I'm so sorry please don't be angry with me."

Anna cocked an eyebrow at Elsa's frantic behavior, cringing as she dropped a pot of peanut butter onto the floor. Luckily, the glass held, otherwise it'd have been one of the worst messes Anna had ever seen. And she'd seen quite a few already. "Elsa?" she asked softly, causing the blonde to whip around. "What is going on?"

Elsa wavered for a moment, an egg in one hand and a frying pan in the other. Then she seemed to gather her wits again. "Would a fried egg be good for lunch?"

"Elsa. What's up?"

Elsa busied herself over the stove, her back turned towards Anna, as she answered. "Nothing. Nothing's up. Everything's quite fine, really."

"Didn't your errands go well?" Anna asked worriedly. "Really, Elsa. You're acting weird. You're starting to freak me out a little…"

Elsa turned around again, a big grin on her face. In fact, Anna thought, it was so big that it was obvious that it was fake. Painfully so. "Nothing to worry about, Anna. You know what, why don't we build another snowman after lunch, hm? Does that sound nice?"

Anna, never having been one to stick with one subject very long, suddenly perked up. "That sounds _awesome_! I was looking out of the window earlier today and couldn't help thinking he must have been lonely there, standing by himself all night."

"You're probably right," Elsa murmured, sliding the egg out of the pan onto a fresh piece of toast as she stared out of the window. "No one deserves being lonely like that. Maybe we should've made him a friend yesterday," she continued thoughtfully, although Anna was quite certain Elsa wasn't actually talking to her anymore.

"Well, I distinctly remember proposing we do just that, but if memory serves me well, which it always does, you were the one to say we had to go inside."

Elsa sighed deeply as Anna started on her second – much more successful – lunch. "You're right," she nearly-whispered, before turning away again to clean the dishes.

It wasn't much longer before the two women found themselves outside again, firmly packed into their wintery outfits, and rolling balls of snow into snowmen with vigor. Elsa stacked the appropriate balls onto each other, making sure that the heads were never larger than the bodies, and used stones from around the cottage to function as facial features. After a good two hours of fun in the snow, a small army of snowmen stood guard in front of the cottage.

Then again, they were all smiling and waving kindly with their stick arms, so maybe an army wasn't really the right way to describe them, Anna figured. Maybe more like a large family. Yes, that sounded a lot more pleasing.

Once the seventeenth snowman was done, and the entire space between the cottage and the start of the woods had been filled with their snowy creations – some looking better than others, but that was completely beside the point – Anna scooped up a hand of snow and pressed it together, launching it at Elsa.

It hadn't escaped her that Elsa had seemed distracted and less involved than she had been yesterday, and Anna didn't like it one single bit. She'd had fun yesterday, and even though she was also having fun now, it just wasn't the same, especially since she got the feeling Elsa was just indulging her, and not actually having fun herself this time.

The snowball hit Elsa in the back – exactly where Anna had aimed, for a change – and Elsa turned around swiftly, getting hit with the second snowball in her face. Anna laughed loudly as the loose snowball exploded in her face. Surely, Elsa would retaliate and forget whatever had been bothering her, right?

Anna easily dodged Elsa's snowball, which was slow and sloppily aimed, and hit Elsa in the shoulder with another one. Again, she dodged Elsa's attempt at hitting her without much effort, and again she managed to hit Elsa easily. When that repeated itself two or three more times, Anna realized that her plans wasn't working. Elsa was indulging her again, but she wasn't really _trying_ to win at all.

She slung a few more snowballs at Elsa, more out of frustration than anything else, before giving up with an annoyed grunt, and suggesting they'd go back inside. Elsa seemed a little surprised, but as always, was quick to acquiesce to Anna's requests.

Anna dropped down in her usual spot in front of the fire and grabbed the Harry Potter book she had been reading. A few more days and she'd have it finished. Which would leave her with only six more books to read through. Elsa, meanwhile, was rummaging around the kitchen, collecting pots and pans and ingredients in preparation of making dinner.

"Can I help?" Anna asked, not looking up from her book.

"No, no! Don't worry, it's fine. I've got this," Elsa replied hastily. From the sound of Elsa's voice, Anna could determine that the woman hadn't even turned around to face her when she answered. It was odd, really. Before today, Elsa had taken every opportunity of staring at Anna. Yet, for some reason, Elsa had hardly glanced in her direction at all, only doing so out of bare necessity.

And frankly, Anna was starting to miss the attention.

It was strange, really. And she knew that it was strange, but she had started to enjoy Elsa's staring a little. She'd never thought of herself as particularly pretty or good-looking, yet Elsa had made her feel like she was the most beautiful girl in the world. Which was nonsense, of course, because Elsa already held that title, but it was a nice feeling nonetheless.

And Anna was not at all happy with the fact she now had to do without that feeling. She replaced her nose between the pages of her book, but none of the words actually registered in her mind. She was too busy puzzling over Elsa's odd behavior today. She wanted – again – to ask what was wrong, but she knew the gorgeous blonde would just evade the question again, and Anna didn't have any way to force Elsa into answering her.

Dinner was a quiet affair. Usually, the silences between the two of them were quite relaxed and comfortable, but this time the air was full of tension and unasked questions. Every now and then, Anna would look up from her plate to steal a glance at Elsa, only to find the blonde already looking at her, resulting in the both of them quickly averting their eyes again.

Things got even worse when Elsa started doing the dishes, ushering Anna back towards the fire. Anna cringed repeatedly, but decided not to comment on the many crashing sounds from the kitchen. She was quite certain the cottage would be a few plates and glasses short after tonight, but remarking so to Elsa would be unnecessarily rude.

It was a tremendous relief to Anna when Elsa came out of the kitchen, still beet-red and trembling like a leaf, and asked her whether she felt up for a game of chess before turning in for the night.

"Sure, but only if you set the game up," Anna smiled sweetly. Rather than an actual reaction, Elsa just turned away and started setting the pieces up on the chessboard. They sat across from each other, as close to the fire as they comfortably could, and started concentrating on the game.

Early on, Anna noticed she made a huge mistake, leaving Elsa to take her rook without any repercussions. To her surprise, the blonde mastermind across from her didn't even seem to notice as she moved one of her knights on the other side of the board. Anna took a good look at her move, trying to find the value or strategy behind it, but finding none. Instead, she discovered that the move actually left one of Elsa's bishops vulnerable to Anna's pawn. She decided to be bold and take the piece, rather than saving the rook she was now sure to loose.

Oddly enough, however, Elsa still didn't notice the opportunity, and instead frowned at the bishop she just lost. Her fingers idly toyed with the queen, and after a few seconds she dragged it to the other side of the board.

"Why would you do that?" Anna asked incredulously.

"To save her from your rook," Elsa answered without looking up.

"Eh.. Elsa? Which rook?"

Her delicate white finger tapped the top of Anna's bishop. "That one, of course."

"Elsa… Everything alright? That's not a rook, you know that, right? Are you letting me win on purpose?"

"What? Of course not…" Elsa frowned heavily. "I'm sorry, I guess I was a little distracted. I'll do better from here on out." The smile that accompanied the words was as fake as the other smiles Elsa had graced her with today.

And the promise turned out to be equally false. Anna had Elsa's king cornered within four moves – each of which the blonde would normally have anticipated and prevented before Anna could even think of them – and Elsa slumped in defeat as she flicked the wooden piece over. "I guess I'm not as good at this as I thought," she muttered defeatedly.

"Nonsense! You were just distracted, that's all! You've been distracted all day, so that's no big surprise."

"Hm," Elsa hummed. "I suppose you're right."

"Do you want to tell me what's bothering you?" Anna asked, a hopeful lilt in her voice.

"Not really," Elsa smiled wryly, and it hit Anna that this was the first genuine smile Elsa had showed her today, even though it didn't express any joy whatsoever. "You'll find out tomorrow morning," the blonde continued. "I suppose you could call it a surprise."

"Ooh! A surprise, you say?" Anna squealed. "Am I going to like it?"

Elsa nodded solemnly. "I'm certain you will, yes."

"Awesome!" Anna cheered, throwing her arms into the air and knocking the chessboard off the table. "Oh, damn it, sorry. I'm such a klutz, I'm not even sure why you thought it was a good idea to even let me near the chessboard," she muttered as she collected the scattered pieces.

Elsa sighed with a wan smile. "I've found that many of my good ideas haven't turned out as good as I wanted," she stated dryly. "Now, feel free to stay up for a while longer, but I'm going to bed. I hope you don't mind if I leave the hatch to the cellar open? It's the only way to get any warmth down there…"

"No, sure, of course not, I mean, it's your cottage, after all," Anna rambled. "In fact, I think I'll go to bed myself. I'm a little hyped for tomorrow's surprise, and the sooner I go to sleep, the sooner it will be tomorrow. I can't wait. I'm sure it's going to be just _epic_."

Little under half an hour later, Anna dropped herself face-first onto her bed. She didn't really understand why, but she was exhausted. More so than usual. Maybe it was because of her constant attempts to cheer Elsa up. Silly Elsa. She was probably worried about Anna not liking the surprise she had planned. Anna was sure, though, that whatever Elsa had planned for her, she would enjoy. It was, after all, a surprise from _Elsa._


	5. Chapter 5

Anna groaned tiredly, her pleasant dreams interrupted by the barking of a dog on the other side of the wall. Opening her eyes, she was struck with something particularly odd. The walls, which had been icy blue when she went to sleep, were now green and yellow.

"What the hell? This isn't my room…" Anna murmured sleepily. She shook her head a few times, trying to get the sleep out of her system. "Well, actually, this _is_ my room…"

Even then it took a while for the realization to sink in, and once Anna realized that she was actually in _her_ room, in _her _apartment, she jumped out of bed. Her feet getting tangled in the blankets, Anna fell face first to the floor, splayed out like a wounded animal.

"Keep it down, would'ya? I'm tryin' te sleep!" a voice shouted from behind the wall. "And someone shoot that dog!"

Again, Anna groaned. While being kidnapped was far from perfect, she could definitely do without these neighbours. Untangling her feet, Anna got up from her perch on the floor, quickly scanning her room. Yes, everything was as she had left it. Except for Olaf, sitting on her desk, holding a note.

Her heart beat heavily as she picked the note up, marveling at the impeccable handwriting.

_Dear Anna,_

_If you're reading this, I assume you have figured out what my surprise was. _

_I am terribly sorry for taking you from your home like I did. I know it was wrong – I even knew it was wrong when I did it – but I just could not help myself. I've been ever so lonely for a terribly long time now, and for some reason I thought you would be the solution to that problem._

_But taking you like I did was not fair to you. I realized that, despite my best efforts, the situation wasn't working out. You weren't happy here, with me. And that, in turn, made me feel guilty about forcing you to stay with me. Hence I returned you to your home. (Good thing you're such a heavy sleeper, you didn't even wake up when I dropped you!)_

_I realize that you have every reason to hate me, and that I am in absolutely no position to be asking anything of you, but I do so nonetheless: Would you please refrain from mentioning the last few days to anyone? Especially law enforcement? Again: I know I don't have the right to ask this of you, but I hope you can find it in you to show me this kindness._

_I promise you'll never see me again._

_Elsa_

Boy, had Anna been wrong. She had thought that whatever surprise Elsa had for her would _have_ to be a good one. But this was the worst thing the blonde could have come up with, surely? Of course, kidnapping Anna had been a bad decision on her part, and Anna didn't particularly enjoy being a prisoner. But she had good hopes that she and Elsa could become friends – real friends – and then there would be no more need for locks and bolts.

But now all that was gone, and despite the circumstances, Anna found that it actually made her sad. Especially since Elsa's final promise was to ensure they'd never meet again. Anna slumped in her desk chair, closing her eyes and willing herself back to the cottage. However, when she opened her eyes, she was still in her own apartment.

"Should've figured that wouldn't work," Anna muttered resignedly, the only reply being a grumble from her stomach. Anna was partially through her favorite breakfast – although considerably less favored than Elsa's pancakes had become – when she finally made a decision. It wasn't like her to be giving up like this.

Elsa had brought her back here under the false impression that it was what Anna wanted. So, all Anna would have to do was find the girl, tell her she was quite mistaken, and everything would be peachy again. She quickly got dressed in proper clothes, rather than her pajamas, and ran out of the door.

She almost bashed down her neighbours door in her fervor to catch their attention. Once it opened, Anna came face to face with a fiery mass of red hair – even worse than her own – and a lot of shouting in a language that didn't resemble English very much. And then the slamming of the door in her face. Clearly, neighbor number one wasn't going to be much of a help.

On her way to her own door, she encountered the burly blonde guy from down the hall, and she decided it couldn't hurt to ask him some questions. "Hey Christoffel!"

"It's Kristoff," the man grumbled grumpily. "And what do you want? If it's about Sven's barking, say no more. Merida already threatened to… I'm not even going to repeat it."

"Actually, Chris, it's not about your dog. Did you happen to see a particularly good looking blonde around?"

"You mean besides myself?" he asked, puffing his chest out.

"I meant of the female variety."

"Oh. Oh! Oh oh oh! Yeah, totally. Like euh, the day before yesterday? Or the day before that? Or something? I dunno, somewhere around that time, yes. _Really_ blonde, amazing figure, scary-blue eyes, that the one?"

"Yeah! What can you tell me about her?"

Kristoff appeared deep in thought for a moment. "Well, she was here the day before yesterday."

"And?"

"And that's it."

"What do you mean, 'that's it.' Of course that's not all!"

Kristoff looked amused. "Well, I don't know who she is, where she's from, or who she was here for, if that's what you mean."

Anna sighed. "I _know_ who she is, and she was here for me. And now she's gone and I need to find her!"

"Riiiight," Kristoff muttered, slowly turning away from her. "Have a nice day yourself, Miss Clearly-not-in-her-right-mind."

Anna huffed loudly as she returned to her apartment. Sure, she hadn't expected her neighbours to have followed Elsa home to the cottage and be able to show her the way, but she had at least expected _something_. Then again, Elsa being able to kidnap Anna from her apartment was a clear indication that her neighbours didn't really pay attention much.

So she had to come up with a new plan. No biggie. She'd find Elsa before the end of the day, guaranteed. Booting up her laptop, Anna started looking at maps. Surely she'd be able to find the cottage on one of them.

* * *

><p>If only there hadn't been so many woods in this area, Anna figured, she'd be able to find it in no time. But, as it was, she had been looking for three hours, had studied each map she could find closely at least twice, but was still no closer to locating the little cottage.<p>

Anna slammed the laptop down on her desk again with an exasperated grunt. This wasn't working. How the hell was she supposed to find Elsa anyway? She didn't even know her last name, her age, or… or… anything!

Ugh. This was going to be a problem. Anna didn't even know what kind of car Elsa drove… How was she ever going to track the blonde down?

Lacking any concrete ideas, Anna grabbed her coat and made her way to the local mall. She vaguely recalled Elsa telling her that she had followed Anna home from the mall. Which obviously meant that Elsa had been at the mall for something else. And who knows? Maybe she'd be lucky and run into the blonde. She knew the odds weren't in her favor, but she had to try something, right?

As she sauntered towards the mall, she wrinkled her nose at the disgusting sludge on the pavements. Yet another thing she missed about Elsa's cottage – the white powdery snow that hadn't been molested by hundreds of hasty feet yet. She sighed as she entered the large building, annoyed by the shouting of children and the pushing and pulling of the people around her.

For the first fifteen minutes, Anna drifted from store to store, but neither clothes nor shoes could lift her mood, and she soon found that it was too distracting. After all, she wouldn't see Elsa passing by if she were trying on the 74th pair of shoes.

Anna made her way to a little Starbucks on the first floor, making sure to take a seat near the window, from where she could practically oversee the entire mall. Each time she noticed a blonde somewhere in the crowd, her heart made a little jump. Only to sink back into her chest when she realized the blonde wasn't even anywhere near Elsa's shade of platinum.

She was downing her fourth cup of coffee – tracking Elsa down was going to be expensive if she kept this up – when she suddenly heard her name being called out. She reluctantly tore her gaze away from the window to find her cousin Rapunzel heading towards her table, dragging someone behind her.

"Anna! Where the hell have you been?" she almost screamed as she reached the table, pushing the guy she was dragging along in the seat across from her, and then taking her own spot next to him. "I've called you six times, and sent you at least a dozen texts! Why haven't you responded?"

Anna smiled sheepishly, lifting her shoulders to her ears. She tapped the pockets of her jeans to find her phone, before remembering she had thrown it at Elsa when she first saw her, and she didn't quite remember getting it back. Knowing Elsa, it was probably somewhere in her apartment though.

Rapunzel, meanwhile, required more of an answer. Anna released a forced chuckle as the brunette across the table lifted a single eyebrow.

"Well, that's a funny story, actually. You see, I totally lost my phone. No, it's broken! I mean, I broke it, and then I lost it. Yes."

Rapunzel looked at the man next to her, who merely shrugged as if to say 'I don't know what she's got,' after which she turned her attention back to Anna. Before she could say anything, Anna talked on.

"So, Punzel! How's life? Who's this fella? How are your parents?"

"Right, you've never met before, right? Anna, this is Eu-"

"Hi," the man interrupted. "My name's Flynn. Flynn Rider." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively as Rapunzel slapped a hand across her face, gently nudging his side.

Anna merely giggled. "I'm quite sure there's no one called Flynn Rider, but I'll take your word for it. I'm Anna, Rapunzel's cousin."

"Anna," Rapunzel said, her tone dead-serious. "This is Eugene Fitzherbert."

It was amusing to watch Eugene trying to silence Rapunzel before she could finish revealing his name. Even though he was larger and more muscular, it seemed as if Rapunzel had the upper hand in their little skirmish, and after a few minutes, he found himself sulking in the corner of his seat, Rapunzel staring at him with a triumphant smirk.

"Eugene? Fitzherbert? That's an… interesting name…" Anna smiled hesitantly, giggling softly behind her hand as Eugene looked away with a blush across his face.

"So, Anna… Have you met anyone special yet?" Rapunzel asked, her full attention back on the redhead. Apparently, Anna hesitated just a tad too long before answering, and Rapunzel clapped her hands together in glee. "Oh, you must tell me all about it! Is he handsome?"

Anna rolled her eyes good naturedly. She knew her cousin well enough to realize that she would not be able to escape this conversation, so she might as well give in straight away. "Listen, Rapunzel. It's… complicated. And _she_ is absolutely gorgeous."

"She? It's a… You're a…" It seemed as if something exploded in Rapunzel's head for a bit, but soon enough she recovered. "I see. That's great… Are you two dating?"

"Not exactly. I think. She doesn't really know how I feel? In fact, she seems to be under the impression that I hate her, or severely dislike her at least, and now she's avoiding me. So I'm thinking up a plan to confront her. It wasn't too long ago when I myself realized how I felt and due to circumstances beyond my control there were some eh… miscommunications."

Rapunzel clucked her tongue a few times, shaking her head like a mother would at a misbehaving child. "That's not good, Anna. You should call her. Or better yet, go to her house and tell her how you feel!"

"Yes, well, I'd love to, but I don't have her number and I have no clue where she lives."

"How do you two know each other?" Eugene asked, clearly not getting the entire situation.

"Heh. Yes, well… we eh… You see, it's like this: I woke up in her house one morning."

They both stared at her as if her hair had suddenly combusted and was now burning her ears off. Clearly, that sentence needed a little expanding. "Like, there was this party… That I totally don't recall, so it must have been awesome, right? And when I woke up, I was in her cottage, somewhere in the middle of the forest."

Eugene immediately sported a huge grin. "So did the two of you get it on?"

"What? No! Geez, Fitzherbert, get your mind out of the gutter! No, nothing happened."

"So, what happened then?" Rapunzel asked, urging Anna to continue.

"Well, let's see. We had breakfast and euhm… there was this really heavy snowfall, so we sort of got stuck in the cottage for a bit. Like, a few days? And we played chess, watched some movies, built a snowman, the usual stuff you know. And then I went to sleep one night, and Elsa brought me home. And then I found this note saying that she was sorry that I got stuck with her for so long and all that."

"What did you do to make her think you minded?"

Anna scratched the back of her head. "Well, communication wasn't really at its best, at times. I admit that. But I really want to make things right again!"

"What's her name?"

"Elsa."

"Elsa what?"

"I… I don't know, actually."

Eugene whipped out his phone and started staring at his screen intently. Rapunzel and Anna didn't pay him much mind, continuing their discussion about Elsa. "There are 83 Elsa's in our vicinity, apparently. We're going to need a last name for this to work."

"Can't we just look through all their pictures? Surely Anna would recognize her, right Anna?"

"Totally!"

Eugene shook his head. "Most of them don't seem to have profile images, so that won't do us much good."

Anna immediately deflated, wishing she had taken more of an interest in Elsa when she had the chance. Though, in her defense, she hadn't expected to suddenly find herself in a situation that _didn't_ involve Elsa, so there hadn't really been any need. But still…

"Come on, Anna. We'll figure something out," Rapunzel said gently, placing her hand over Anna's. "But the first step is to push mopey Anna off a cliff, because I don't like her at all."

Anna smiled slightly, appreciating her cousin's efforts. "Thanks."

Eugene raised his hands as if he had just come up with the best idea of his life. "Let's go and eat! I'm starving, aren't you?"

"Good pizzas, just around the corner," Anna supplied immediately. She always got her pizza's from Mario's, and they never disappointed with their quality food for a decent price. Rapunzel and Eugene allowed her to show the way, asking more questions about Elsa as they made the five-minute walk.

* * *

><p>As they entered the pizza joint, the man behind the counter beamed at them. "Anna! Good to see you again!" he said with a clearly-fake Italian accent. "It's been too long! Normally, you come by every week, sometimes twice!"<p>

"Yes, yes," Anna interrupted, figuring her cousin didn't have to know about her not-so-healthy eating habits. "I've been… very busy."

"Yes! Out of town, right?" Mario continued. "How's your friend?"

"Friend?"

"Yes. The blonde girl. You know, little taller than you, very blue eyes. Very polite girl… She bought pizzas for you both last week, she said. Asked your favorite."

"That's right! Elsa came here for pizza!"

"Right, right. Elsa, that was her name. We talked while Antonio made the pizzas. Very nice girl."

Before Anna even got the chance to respond, Eugene and Rapunzel were both hanging over the counter. "Do you know her last name?" Rapunzel asked, almost yelling in her excitement.

"I don't know?" Mario replied hesitantly, clearly intimidated by the little brunette and her boyfriend. "I could check, but I don't see-"

"Just go and check!" Flynn commanded, his presence imposing enough for Mario to obey immediately. In all the commotion, they actually forgot about ordering pizzas for themselves, and several of the patrons looked at them awkwardly.

After a few minutes, Mario returned with a large folder, sifting through the papers inside. "I don't know her last name, but she signed for the pizzas," he muttered, his nose still aimed at the papers. After a few seconds, he pulled out one particular piece and placed it on the counter. Anna picked it up immediately. Looking at the autograph at the bottom, she instinctively knew it was Elsa's. Somehow it just… suited her. "Elsa… Elsa Frost?"

She looked at Rapunzel and Eugene, who both had their mouths open, gaping at her with something akin to… Well, Anna wasn't quite sure what their expression was supposed to convey.

"What?"

"Elsa Frost? As in, the daughter of Agdar Frost? Former CEO of Frost Conglomerate?"

"I think so? Maybe…?"

Eugene took his phone out again, rapidly ticking on the screen. When he shoved it in Anna's face, there was a picture of Elsa – _her_ Elsa – smiling at her. "YES! Yes! That's her. Elsa Frost! That's Elsa!"

Eugene nodded, sitting down on one of the chairs behind him as he started searching the internet. After a while he looked at the two girls again, a crooked smile on his face. "You said a cottage in the woods, right Anna?"

"Yes…"

"It says here that 'The Frost family owns several pieces of land, most of which are property of Frost Conglomerate. The family mansion, formerly private possession, was sold after the tragic deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Frost, leaving their daughter, Elsa, with the family's holiday home."

He looked at Anna triumphantly, but Anna merely shrugged. "So?"

"So…." Eugene said, stretching the word out, "it specifies the location. If you want, I can take you there right away. I'm sure Rapunzel wouldn't mind."

"Let's go!" Rapunzel cheered, looping her arm through Anna's and dragging her back towards the mall. Mario was left without his customers, but did not at all appear disgruntled. Rather, he looked to be amused by the youngers' antics.

* * *

><p>The ride took exactly two hours and forty-eight minutes, and Anna was delighted to see the cottage again. Their snowman family was still standing in front of it, although some of them seemed to have lost an arm or head over the duration of the day. "Is this the place?" Rapunzel asked nervously.<p>

"Yeah, it is…" Anna responded, nerves starting to act up in her stomach. It was already getting late, and there didn't seem to be any light on inside the cottage. Still… Anna was here now, and she wouldn't back off. No. She was going to do this… But she couldn't do this with Eugene and Rapunzel here.

After all, they weren't supposed to find out about the circumstances of their relationship so far.

"Hey, Rapunzel, Eugene… thank you. Thank you _so_ much. I never would have found her without you guys… But I have to do this myself. I'm sure Elsa will take me home, or at least let me call a cab if necessary. Or maybe I'll sleep here, I don't know. But you should really go back home. I'm sure aunt and uncle are worried."

Rapunzel looked at the clock on the dashboard. "Yes, they probably are. Call me if you need anything, understood?"

"Sure," Anna smiled as she climbed out of the car. "I'll let you know how this ends. No worries!"

She stood watching as Eugene's car disappeared behind the trees again, taking a deep breath. She turned around to the door, placing her hand on the doorknob. To her surprise, the door opened without any resistance – apparently locking doors was no longer an option now that Anna was no longer inside – and Anna quietly made her way through the cottage.

As she had expected, everything was dark and empty. Well, not empty, apparently. As she walked past her bedroom – or, Elsa's bedroom, she supposed – she heard soft murmuring from the other side.

She gently nudged the door open, finding a head of platinum blonde hair poking out from under two thick comforters. Elsa looked utterly peaceful in her sleep – something Anna hadn't seen during her previous stay at the cottage – and Anna felt the inclination to just sit and watch. Even though that was a remarkably creepy thing to be doing, really.

She quickly padded to the living room, taking two comforters from the large pile in the corner – exactly where they had been last time – before returning to Elsa's room. She made herself a cosy little spot on the desk chair, watching Elsa's peaceful face.

Eventually, Elsa would wake up. And when she did, Anna would be right here.

* * *

><p><strong>Soooo, only one or two more chapters and then this little baby will be all grown up. :) Please, do feel free to leave your thoughts in the lovely review box below. Your opinions are dreadfully important to me, as they help me improve my writing and all that.<strong>

**Also, shout out to everyone who has shown their love for this story so far: You are all awesome, and should continue being awesome. And be proud of your awesomeness. And flaunt it. Yes. That's all. Hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you all next time!**


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